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Captain Robert A. Stone - 3 September 16 [[?]], 1948 "Here we have a bill including a section which would put the Government into that business [[ hand written bracket]] the annuity business [[ hand written bracket]] in such a way that it would intrude upon private business enterprise, and no doubt discourage the widespread development of annuities which is being undertaken... "Besides demoralising the wonderful progress of annuity insurance in private companies, this section would place an unfair burden upon the tax payers." The amendment was carried without a record vote. I was present in the Senate Chamber when the vote was taken and my recollection is that it carried by a very substantial majority. President Roosevelt was interested in having the Government authorized to sell annuities voluntarily. I remember having been asked to work on the problem again some time around 1039 or 1940. My memory is not very clear what happened, but I am sure that no bill embodying the proposal was introduced and that a test indicated a complete absence of Congressional interest. I personally have no doubt that at the present time it would be impossible to get a bill for voluntary annuities introduced, and even if introduced it would never get reported out of Committee. And I would add my own personal belief also that a non-subsidized sale of annuities by the Federal Government on a strictly voluntary basis would not offer any better bargain, and possibly not as good a bargain, as the annuities now on sale on an individual or group basis by most life insurance companies. (2) This is a double- barrel question. 2(a) has to do with the lowering of the retirement age, and 2(b) with a comparison of the bill with annuities under a "commercial" plan. The answer to 2(a) is that to lower the retirement age at which annuities are available to every employee, regardless of whether or not he can serve as an air line pilot, would add to the cost; and the answer to 2(b) is that the proposed plan does pay substantially more than any commercial plan. To give a somewhat longer explanation: The exact additional cost of providing for an age of retirement longer than 60 is dependent upon how many pilots would exercise the option to retire at such earlier age, even if not disqualified. This form of statement is, of course, predicted on two assumptions: (1) that an annuity will not be paid so long as a pilot is working for an air line; and (2) that when the service of a pilot is terminated for a reason unrelated to disability, he will not get the air line annuity until he quit any job he takes later on. A good many pilots who have ceased to fly